Top Cameroonian separatist leader arrested in Norway

A Cameroonian separatist leader has been arrested in Norway for his alleged role in the ongoing armed conflict in the Central African country.

Lucas Ayaba Cho was arrested on Tuesday on "charges based on his various expressions on social media", his lawyer told the BBC.

Cho is an influential figure in the Anglophone movement pushing for independence from Cameroon, where over 6,000 people have been killed and nearly a million others displaced since fighting began in 2016.

Some in the country's two English-speaking provinces say they are discriminated against by the French-speaking majority.

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused both government troops and the armed separatists of killings, rapes and torture of civilians.

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A Cameroonian official told the BBC that Norway and Cameroon had a security agreement, which could see Cho being extradited in the coming days.

Cho, who describes himself as a liberation leader, is one of the most prominent separatist leaders shaping the conflict in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone regions.

The 52-year-old heads the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), a political wing of the Ambazonian Defence Forces (ADF), one of several armed groups seeking independence from Cameroon.

He commands his movement from his base in Norway, where he is believed to have ordered a recent two-week lockdown as part of the separatists' campaign to boycott schools.

Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service (KRIPOS) said Cho “had a central role in an ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon”.

On Wednesday, the Norwegian investigators sought his custody from the Oslo District Court.

“We are in an early phase of the investigation, and there are several investigative steps that remain,” Norwich prosecutor Anette Berger said.

If convicted in Cameroon, Cho could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Emmanuel Nsahlai, a US-based lawyer representing some victims of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, hailed Cho's arrest as a "significant victory" against separatist violence in Cameroon.

"This arrest marks a critical step in holding him accountable for his actions and bringing justice to the victims of his violence," Mr Nsahlai.

Cho is not the first separatist leader to be arrested abroad in connection with the violence in Cameroon.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, the Cameroonian government has been urging foreign countries hosting separatist leaders to facilitate their repatriation back home for trial over their role in the ongoing violence.

In 2018, Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the leader of the Anglophone separatist movement, and 46 others were arrested in Nigeria and later extradited to Cameroon.